A Room of My Own: Blue Monday Tanka

the blank pages
of my poetry journal
staring at me ...
this blue Monday
now dry to the bone

Butterfly Dream: Pumpkin Soup Haiku by Hazel Hall

English Original

pumpkin soup
tasting a spoonful
of sunset

Stardust Haiku, 10, October 2017

Hazel Hall


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

南瓜湯
品嚐一勺落日
的美景

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

南瓜汤
品尝一勺落日
的美景


Bio Sketch

Hazel Hall is a Canberra poet, musicologist and convenor of the School of Music Poets. She has published in a wide range of local and overseas journals and anthologies. Her publications include Sugar Loaf and Humming Birds with John Collard (2013), Eggshell Sky (2017) and Moonlight Over the Siding (forthcoming).

One Man's Maple Moon: Casino Tanka by Keitha Keyes

English Original

the casino
for high rollers
casts shadows
over park benches
littered with homeless

Skylark, 5:1, Summer 2017

Keitha Keyes


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

給高級顧客消費
的一座賭場
投下它的陰影
覆蓋一排公園長椅
無家可歸人們睡在上面

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

给高级顾客消费
的一座赌场
投下它的阴影
覆盖一排公园长椅
无家可归人们睡在上面


Bio Sketch

Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney, Australia, in a small house decorated with ship models, antique irons and trivets. And a cocker spaniel. Her retirement would be very empty without the lure of writing tanka, haiku, cherita and other poetry.

Butterfly Dream: Divorce Day Haiku by Hifsa Ashraf

English Original

the rustling
of fallen leaves
divorce day

Hifsa Ashraf


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

落葉
沙沙作響的聲音
離婚日

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

落叶
沙沙作响的声音
离婚日


Bio Sketch

Hifsa Ashraf is from Pakistan. She is a lecturer and HR consultant by profession. She writes short stories, columns, and poetry in different languages. Her poetry has been published in various online journals. Her short stories have been published in a UK-based English magazine.

Butterfly Dream: Dusk Haiku by Gregory Piko

English Original

a crow at dusk --
ink sinks deeper
into the page

The Heron’s Nest, 12:1, March 2010

Gregory Piko


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

昏鴉 --
墨水更深地
滲入頁面

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

昏鸦 --
墨水更深地
渗入页面


Bio Sketch

Gregory Piko's haiku have been awarded Second Prize in the 'Kusamakura' International Haiku Competition, received a Touchstone Award from The Haiku Foundation, won first prize in the New Zealand Poetry Society’s International Haiku Competition and appeared in Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years. Gregory blogs at www.gregorypiko.com.

One Man's Maple Moon: Foreign Land Tanka by Giddy Nielsen-Sweep

English Original

a soldier
in a foreign land
my son
is too far away to hold
yesterday ... I bathed him

Giddy Nielsen-Sweep


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

做為一位士兵
駐紮在他鄉異國
兒子離我太遠
使得我無法擁抱他
在我腦海裡昨天 ... 我才幫他洗澡

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

做为一位士兵
驻扎在他乡异国
儿子离我太远
使得我无法拥抱他
在我脑海里昨天昨天 ... 我才帮他洗澡


Bio Sketch

Retiring from nursing for health reasons Giddy Nielsen-Sweep explored writing techniques for ten years, developing a love of Japanese poetry. She writes tanka, haiku, haibun and tanka prose. Her haiku have been published in A Hundred Gourds. Now she is beginning to write more tanka.  '

Butterfly Dream: Telescope of Hands Haiku by Tom Sacramona

English Original

living alone
the moon through a telescope
of hands

Acorn, 38, Spring 2017

Tom Sacramona


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

獨自生活
雙手做成的望遠鏡
所看到的月亮

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

独自生活
双手做成的望远镜
所看到的月亮


Bio Sketch

Tom Sacramona (b. 1992) is a poet living in Plainville, Massachusetts.  With experiences in both teaching and proposal writing, he works today in the Greater Boston area.  Sacramona is a member of the Boston Haiku Society and the Haiku Society of America.

Butterfly Dream: Swan Haiku by Lesley Anne Swanson

English Original

just one swan
returns this year
... ripples on the pond

Wild Plum, Winter 2017

Lesley Anne Swanson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

今年只有
一隻天鵝返回
... 池塘上的漣漪

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

今年只有
一只天鹅返回
... 池塘上的涟漪


Bio Sketch

Lesley Anne Swanson has lived in Northern California, the Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest, but now calls Pennsylvania home.  Always a wordsmith, she discovered tanka in 2011 and has been enthralled ever since.

A Room of My Own: Crimson Sun Tanka

I drive alone
on a gravel road
through cornfields ...
the crimson sun
falls below the horizon

One Man's Maple Moon: Motherland Tanka by Shuji Terayama

English Original

striking a match
momentarily
I see the foggy ocean --
is there a motherland
I can dedicate myself to?

Kaleidoscope, 2007

Shuji Terayama


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

點燃一根火柴
瞬間我可以看到
被霧籠罩的海洋 --
那裡存在一個祖國
是我可以獻身的嗎？

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

点燃一根火柴
瞬间我可以看到
被雾笼罩的海洋 -
那里存在一个祖国
是我可以献身的吗？


Bio Sketch

The avant-garde stage and film director, poet, critic, author and founder of the experimental theater group Tenjo Sajiki, Shuji Terayama was born in 1935 in Aomori, Japan. He started writing tanka in his late teens and received the Tanka Kenkyu Award for Emerging Poets. He published several tanka collections before he stopped writing at the age of 30. Many of his tanka read more like scenes from a movie scene or short story. He died in 1983. The first English language collection of his tanka, Kaleidoscope, was published by The Hokuseido Press in 2008 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of  his death.

Butterfly Dream: Mountain Gorge Haiku by Janet Howie

English Original

mountain gorge --
a passing cloud
loses its shadow

FreeXpreSsion Haiku Competition winner, 2014

Janet Howie


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

山中峽谷 --
一朵掠過的雲彩
失去了它的影子

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

山中峡谷 --
一朵掠过的云彩
失去了它的影子


Bio Sketch

Janet Howie writes prose and poetry. She has a particular interest in haiku, haibun and haiga. Her work has won numerous awards. She has published two anthologies, Rotation (2004) and Footprint (2013). A third book Representing nature: poetry and paintings, (also by J.H.) was published in June 2018.

One Man's Maple Moon: All That Remains Tanka by S. M. Kozubek

English Original

beside our bed
all that remains
of our years:
your picture, a ring,
this lock of your hair

A Hundred Gourds, 4:4, September 2015

S. M. Kozubek


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在我們的床邊
擺放這些年來共同生活
所剩下的：
你的照片，一枚戒指，
以及一縷你的頭髮

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在我们的床边
摆放这些年来共同生活
所剩下的：
你的照片，一枚戒指，
以及一缕你的头发


Bio Sketch

After retiring from practicing law, S. M. Kozubek spends more time now writing poems. His haiku and tanka have appeared in Frogpond, A Hundred Gourds, Prune Juice, Modern Haiku, bottle rockets, Skylark, is/let, Red Moon Anthology, hedgerow, and other publications. He is a member of the Haiku Society of America.

Butterlfy Dream: Dawn Rain Haiku by Gavin Austin

English Original

the pull of two worlds waking to dawn rain       

Presence, 55,  2016

Gavin Austin


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在兩個不同的人間現實中拉扯黎明醒來下雨了

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在两个不同的人间现实中拉扯黎明醒来下雨了


Bio Sketch

Gavin Austin, lives in Sydney, Australia and writes mostly short fiction and poetry. His work has appeared in many Australian and international publications and has been successful in numerous writing competitions. Gavin was the Featured Poet for the January 2016 edition of cattails.

Butterfly Dream: Sakura Flurry Haiku by Geethanjali Rajan

English Original

sakura flurry
the pre-schooler turns
into an airplane

Sakura Award, 2017 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2017

Geethanjali Rajan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

櫻花紛紛散落
一位學齡前兒童轉變
成為一架飛機

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

樱花纷纷散落
一位学龄前儿童转变
成为一架飞机


Bio Sketch

Geethanjali Rajan teaches Japanese and English in the city of Chennai, India. She writes prose, opinion pieces, haiku, tanka, haibun and other forms of poetry. Her writing can be found in various international journals online and some, in print. She is currently the editor of haiku at Cattails (UHTS).

To the Lighthouse: Ekphrastic Tanka

                                                                                                     the muse rising
                                                                                                     from a sea of words
                                                                                                     covers her breasts ...
                                                                                                     I am pregnant
                                                                                                     with verses of longing

                                                                                                     Chen-ou Liu

In Greek, ekphrasis means the description of a work of art, and it "has been considered generally to be a rhetorical device in which one medium of art tries to relate to another medium by defining and describing its essence and form, and in doing so, relate more directly to the audience, through its illuminative liveliness" (Wikipedia Ekphrasis entry). An ekphrastic tanka is a tanka inspired or stimulated by a work of art, and through describing and reflecting on this piece of art, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.

Selected Tanka:

waiting room
the thousand sporting naiads
of my schizophrenia
as if by magic
from Monet’s Water Lilies

Grant Savage

i want to become
a Klimt woman
dangling
off the canvas
dripping golden light

Pamela A. Babusci

how like love
barefoot through the open door
too much perfume
for one heart to hold
lilacs in full bloom

Claire Everett

heading home
this autumn evening
lamplight
through a bedroom window --
you, in the corner of my mind

Susan Constable

alone at twilight
doing tonglen practice
I see the face
in The Scream
... and mine overlapping

Chen-ou Liu